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Defund PBS

A version of this article appeared in the Baltimore Sun,
June 27, 2005.

Congressional Republicans have proposed to cut the funding for the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds public radio and
television stations. After having their fun, they have agreed to
restore most of the money and dropped their threat to eventually
phase out all taxpayer funding. But they shouldn’t back down. In
fact, they should finish the job: End all taxpayer funding for
government broadcasting stations, and let them compete in the
marketplace like other broadcasters.

In a 500-channel world, why do the taxpayers need to subsidize
one more channel? Defenders of National Public Radio and the Public
Broadcasting System tell us it’s because we need “independent
journalism.” But can we really expect to get truly independent
journalism from a government-funded network?

It’s time to establish the separation of news and state.
Journalists should not work for the government. Taxpayers should
not be forced to subsidize news and public-affairs programming.

Tax-funded broadcasters are up in arms these days over what they
see as political interference from the Bush administration. Kenneth
Y. Tomlinson, the Bush-appointed chairman of the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, has proposed to make a Republican activist
president and CEO of the CPB. Like many Republicans, he has also
complained about liberal bias at PBS and NPR, both of which receive
funding from CPB.

Public opinion polls commissioned by PBS have found that most
Americans don’t perceive tax-funded radio and television as
politically biased. Of course, the most effective bias is bias that
the listener doesn’t perceive. That can be the subtle use of
adjectives or frameworks — for instance, a report that “Congress
has failed to pass a health care bill” clearly leaves the
impression that a health care bill is a good thing, and Congress
has “failed” a test. Compare that to language like “Congress turned
back a Republican effort to cut taxes for the wealthy.” There the
listener is clearly being told that something bad almost happened,
but Congress “turned back” the threat.

A careful listener to NPR would notice a preponderance of
reports on racism, sexism, and environmental destruction. David
Fanning, executive producer of “Frontline,” PBS’s documentary
series, responds to questions of bias by saying, “We ask hard
questions to people in power. That’s anathema to some people in
Washington these days.” But it seems safe to say that there has
never been a “Frontline” documentary on the burden of taxes, or the
number of people who have died because federal regulations keep
drugs off the market, or the way that state governments have abused
the law in their pursuit of tobacco companies, or the number of
people who use guns to prevent crime. Those “hard questions” just
don’t occur to liberal journalists.

Anyone who got all his news from NPR would never know that
Americans of all races live longer, healthier, and in more comfort
than any people in history, or that the environment has been
getting steadily cleaner.

One dirty little secret that NPR and PBS don’t like to
acknowledge in public debate is the wealth of their listeners and
viewers. But they’re happy to tell advertisers — oops, I mean
sponsors — about the affluent audience they’re reaching. A few
years ago NPR enthusiastically told advertisers that its listeners
are 66 percent wealthier than the average American, three times as
likely to be college graduates, and 150 percent more likely to be
professionals or managers. Tax-funded broadcasting, like tax-funded
arts, is a giant income transfer upward: the middle class is taxed
to pay for news and entertainment for the upper middle class. It’s
no accident that you hear ads for Remy Martin and “private banking
services” on NPR, not for Budweiser and free checking accounts.

Under threat from the House Republicans, NPR and PBS are using
their tax-funded airwaves to reach their millions of affluent,
influential fans. Local stations are running 30-second ads over and
over urging their listeners and viewers to call members of
Congress. Their websites offer instructions on how to “call, fax,
or e-mail Congress.” With some 800 radio and television stations
running these ads, this is a multi-million dollar lobbying
campaign.

It’s simply wrong for tax-funded broadcasters to use our tax
dollars to lobby on behalf of getting more tax dollars. When
government money is used to influence the government, it’s like
putting a thumb on the scales of public debate. Government itself
is tipping the scales in one direction.

Tax-funded broadcasting has become a vast $2.5 billion
enterprise, with more than 350 television stations and 780 radio
stations reaching every corner of the country. It’s time to cut
this “infant industry” loose and let it make its own way in the
marketplace, without any more money from the taxpayers.